Grand Prix of Austria – Race

It’s not often I agree with Bernie, but he said “I think we need to have a very, very, very good look at all our sporting regulations”; “Don’t go over the white line, don’t do this, don’t do that, if you change your engine you go back 20 places… The public don’t understand and when they do understand they don’t care.”

ALO – total of 25-place grid penalties after McLaren elected to change several elements of his Honda power units. Because the full penalty cannot be applied, ALO must serve a drive-through penalty in the first three laps of the race.

BUT – same penalty as ALO. He also can’t take the whole penalty, so he gets a 10-second stop-go penalty at his first pit stop.

The mechanics clear the grid; HAM leads everyone away
Only MAL, PER, RAI, RIC starting on primes (soft compound); rest of the grid on the options (super-soft)
BUT reporting the car entered forced neutral – more gearbox problems for the McLaren
01/71: ROS steals P1 before Turn 1
Poor start from RIC – drops right to the back
RAI and ALO in the wall – ALO on top of RAI!
Safety Car deployed
Both drivers out OK

02[SC]: KVY pits – new nose
Radio from BUT asking if ALO is OK
STE pulls off as the Marussia rolls to a stop

03[SC]: Marshals still clearing the ALO/RAI incident
ERI pits
Replay of the start shows MAL and ERI both slow off the mark

04[SC]: BUT pits but cannot serve his penalty
Replay of the ALO/RAI incident – looks like RAI wasn’t tagged, got bit of a tank-slapper out of Turn 1; ALO tried to pass but they made contact

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“The stewards in Austria have decided to take no further action over the dramatic first-lap clash that eliminated McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen from Sunday’s race in Spielberg.” [FIA]